Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

clarity · 2006-04-10 20:49:27

Okay, I've noticed that Linux seems much slower than Windows. First of all, the visual effects are choppy and slow. Note, this isn't on ArchLinux, but I don't know how large a difference that makes. On Fedora and Slackware, running Gnome and KDE, the visual effects look okay, but there's a strange feel to it. I haven't installed ATI Linux drivers for my Radeon 9800, could that be the problem? I tried to install it, but it was a HUGE hassle and I ended up not being albe to install it. Secondly, the internet displays extremely slow. I thought Linux was built for networking! I must be doing something wrong. On Fedora nd Slack, I was able to get the internet to work, but it did very slowly. Firefox, Konqueror, any browser was horribly slow. But, my download speeds were normal! Coul this relate to my video card drivers? They are very unrelated...

Thank you all for reading this, and I hope you can help.

EDIT - What filesystem should I use? I used to use Ex2/Ext2 (forgot what it was called) and Ex3/Ext3(same thing). I read a thread here on the forums about ResiserFS, and other filesystems. What filesystem has what benefits/cons?

Chman · 2006-04-10 21:09:18

clarity wrote:

running Gnome and KDE, the visual effects look okay, but there's a strange feel to it. I haven't installed ATI Linux drivers for my Radeon 9800, could that be the problem?

Yep. Try to use WinXP in high resolution without installing video drivers... It's very slow.

I tried to install it, but it was a HUGE hassle and I ended up not being albe to install it.

I have a 9800Pro and it was very easy to install using kernel26-archck and at-fglrx-archck. I mean *very* easy, you just need to follow the wiki.

Don't about the web stuff...

EDIT - What filesystem should I use? I used to use Ex2/Ext2 (forgot what it was called) and Ex3/Ext3(same thing). I read a thread here on the forums about ResiserFS, and other filesystems. What filesystem has what benefits/cons?

There are some threads about it, just use the search function. If you really don't know which one to use, go for ext3.

clarity · 2006-04-11 00:13:21

Okay, I went to the wiki and installed by:
pacman -Sy ati-fglrx
and pacman -Sy ati-fglrx-archck

I haven't really noticed a difference in performance. Ii's nto as slow, but it's not fast either.

Also, the internet access is horrendous. It forever to load up this site! However, when I download, I download at the same rate as ever...but the website loading feels like dial-up!

lumiwa · 2006-04-11 01:04:42

clarity wrote:

Okay, I went to the wiki and installed by:
pacman -Sy ati-fglrx
and pacman -Sy ati-fglrx-archck
I haven't really noticed a difference in performance. Ii's nto as slow, but it's not fast either.
Also, the internet access is horrendous. It forever to load up this site! However, when I download, I download at the same rate as ever...but the website loading feels like dial-up!

If you have a stock kernel than install:
pacman -S ati-fglrx ati-fglrx-utils
Than run aticonfig

syd · 2006-04-11 04:28:14

XP is fairly fast. For about 1 day till you install a couple of programs on it and have to defrag.

Get your gfx drivers installed and then cut down on a few of kde's features. Should speed things up.

As for file systems. I have used Resiserfs but i had a hd crash(bad sectors). And the recovery tool weren't as good so i went back to ext3. I still use resiserfs for my /var.

.

Moo-Crumpus · 2006-04-11 10:46:33

Note, this isn't on ArchLinux, but I don't know how large a difference that makes.

I am confused. You don't run archlinux, but use pacman-S ....
You complain about other distro behaving slow and sluggish. Did I get you wrong?

scarecrow · 2006-04-11 18:53:56

Maybe he uses Frugalware, or Rubix, or Underground!

clarity · 2006-04-11 22:10:19

I meant Linux was slow on the Internet on other distros.

It's is horribly slow on ArchLinux too. I installed the ATI-FGLRX and ATI-FGLRX-ARCHCK drivers. No difference, but the system was fast at first anyways...can't remember the days of Fedora, etc. Anyways, my internet is HORRIBLY slow. I recently downloaded something off the internet at 10 kbs, but that may have been an exception, I've downloaded many other things at my normal rate. My normal rate is 150 kbs. But, I always download websites SLOW. It's like I'm on dialup...

Freaky T · 2006-04-11 22:18:08

Remember to enable DMA if it's not already on. When it was off on my computer, I would doing anything in the background would slow down everything to a crawl.

http://www.linux.com/howtos/Ultra-DMA-8.shtml

clarity · 2006-04-11 23:36:56

Freaky T wrote:

Remember to enable DMA if it's not already on. When it was off on my computer, I would doing anything in the background would slow down everything to a crawl.
http://www.linux.com/howtos/Ultra-DMA-8.shtml

Sounds like a plan. Thank you! I'll post here whether if it works or not.

clarity · 2006-04-12 00:31:59

clarity wrote:

Freaky T wrote:
Remember to enable DMA if it's not already on. When it was off on my computer, I would doing anything in the background would slow down everything to a crawl.
http://www.linux.com/howtos/Ultra-DMA-8.shtml
Sounds like a plan. Thank you! I'll post here whether if it works or not.

Well, DMA was already enabled. However, I installed fluxbox, and am using Dillo. It's very fast and responsive. I pacmaned firefox, but I can't start it. Can anyone tell me where firefox installed to? I tried looking for it ontheir site.

iBertus · 2006-04-12 00:49:49

Firefox is installed to /opt/mozilla/bin and should run without the path if you logout and back in. You can also try one of the many firefox tweaking guides you can find floating around the net and see if that helps. It sounds like you've got a configuration problem b/c Arch is much faster than Windows on my system once setup and running.

clarity · 2006-04-12 00:54:16

iBertus wrote:

Firefox is installed to /opt/mozilla/bin and should run without the path if you logout and back in. You can also try one of the many firefox tweaking guides you can find floating around the net and see if that helps. It sounds like you've got a configuration problem b/c Arch is much faster than Windows on my system once setup and running.

Thank you very much. I got firefox running, it's slow. Slower than Windows IE/Firefox, slower than Dillo, but faster than Konqueror.

What do you mean it should run without the path? Is there a command to run it from the terminal, like 'firefox'? Also, what are my configuration files? Windows is much faster than Arch so far... Sorry for the questions, I'm fairly new...

Gullible Jones · 2006-04-12 01:13:47

Slow on internet, you say? Uhh let's see, have you tried disabling IPv6 for Firefox or Konqueror? For Firefox, you go to about:config and set network.dns.disableIPv6 to "true"; for Konqueror, you put KDE_DISABLE_IPV6=1 in your .bashrc or in /etc/profile, after which you have to log out and log in again.

iBertus · 2006-04-12 01:26:07

Yes, after logging back in you should be able to just type 'firefox' in the terminal without the /opt/mozilla/bin part.

I suppose that some of the pages you visit could contain loads of stuff designed for IE but that shouldn't slow it down that much (if any). What sort of hardware are you using? Perhaps it's a specific issue with your hardware setup.

Bison · 2006-04-12 14:49:04

I think you will find slow response when using a heavy window manager like kde or gnome, especially without installing non-free video drivers.

I'm running ratpoison, without the propriertary video drivers, and my computer is way faster than my girlfriends box running WinXP. ...And it's underclocked to 800mHz

ujjwal · 2006-04-12 16:48:22

Even a "middle weight" desktop environment like XFCE will give you better performance than windows. KDE and Gnome are heavily layered and have lots of components for many different purposes. They are a bit slower than windows.

The slow browsing issue is weird, are you using the same DNS settings for both OS's?

test1000 · 2006-04-12 17:51:11

i suppose the -ck patchsets should make linux more "windows like" regarding "speed"(there are multiple ways to define this, can't remember the correct term now) on the desktop. You must remember that the kernel which make up much of Linux isn't really developed thinking of the desktop needs specifically; it's developed for the server and the workstation, etc etc.

maybe you will experience speedups with the -beyond kernel patchset(which incorporate -ck) but this patchset also adds a bunch of other stuff which may or may not kill the speed advantage of using -ck in the first place. notice _MAY_.

Remember though, that the greatest speedup you will get in linux follow the same rule as in windows; "small"(multiple ways to define this too) applications make up most of the difference and in the case when you have to use large apps, like for example i like konqeror; start it up in the bg(kdeinit) or prelink it

Bison · 2006-04-12 18:24:49

I don't think his problem is at the kernel level. I think it's his internet and graphics that he is specifically mentioning.

test1000 · 2006-04-12 21:58:33

also firefox is slow compared to opera on my ati card (atleast); it's much faster in windows regardless.
Bison: i assume rendering problems is one of his problems because he says he gets the same download speeds as in windows...

clarity · 2006-04-12 22:34:04

Gullible Jones wrote:

Slow on internet, you say? Uhh let's see, have you tried disabling IPv6 for Firefox or Konqueror? For Firefox, you go to about:config and set network.dns.disableIPv6 to "true"; for Konqueror, you put KDE_DISABLE_IPV6=1 in your .bashrc or in /etc/profile, after which you have to log out and log in again.

Great! It works! Thank you so much!

EDIT - My computer is medium-end. ATi 9800 128, 2.6 ghz intel pent 4, 1 gb pc3200 ram, 7200 RPM 80 GB hd, SATA (not 3Gb/s).

EDIT 2 - Alright, I'm running flux box now. After using pacman to install some stuff to get the terminal working, I really like flux! It's small, compact, and fast. I tried XFCE, it's nice. KDE looks great but is slow. Never tried GNOME. Anyone have some fast window managers? Ratpoison?

clarity · 2006-04-12 22:46:18

test1000 wrote:

i suppose the -ck patchsets should make linux more "windows like" regarding "speed"(there are multiple ways to define this, can't remember the correct term now) on the desktop. You must remember that the kernel which make up much of Linux isn't really developed thinking of the desktop needs specifically; it's developed for the server and the workstation, etc etc.
maybe you will experience speedups with the -beyond kernel patchset(which incorporate -ck) but this patchset also adds a bunch of other stuff which may or may not kill the speed advantage of using -ck in the first place. notice _MAY_.
Remember though, that the greatest speedup you will get in linux follow the same rule as in windows; "small"(multiple ways to define this too) applications make up most of the difference and in the case when you have to use large apps, like for example i like konqeror; start it up in the bg(kdeinit) or prelink it

Argh! I didn't know much about the arch-ck kernels, but I installed it before. It screwed up my computer! I installed the ATI drivers, but when I booted my system up from the initramfs setting, it errored during startup. However, I think I had kernel 2.6.16, and the ATI-Fglrx-arch-ck thing I pacmanned had 2.6.15-2.

What is the performance increase?

Also, ATI control panel doesn't work. I click on it, but nothing appears.

Bysshe · 2006-04-13 17:28:56

Sorry to ask the dumb question but you have checked for OpenGL rendering, and that it is not relying on Mesa for video?

iBertus · 2006-04-13 20:11:17

Bysshe wrote:

Sorry to ask the dumb question but you have checked for OpenGL rendering, and that it is not relying on Mesa for video?

Yeah, a quick glxinfo could show the problem if it's video related. The proprietary drivers a horrible at cooperating with stuff like libgl-dri, which is IIRC installed by default with xorg.

test1000 · 2006-04-13 22:51:29

libgl-dri isn't installed by default with xorg. But i'm fairly certain that you need libgl-dri OR ati/nidia drivers with some packages, but libgl-dri isn't mandatory...

Arch Linux

#1 2006-04-10 20:49:27

Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#2 2006-04-10 21:09:18

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#3 2006-04-11 00:13:21

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#4 2006-04-11 01:04:42

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#5 2006-04-11 04:28:14

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#6 2006-04-11 10:46:33

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#7 2006-04-11 18:53:56

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#8 2006-04-11 22:10:19

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#9 2006-04-11 22:18:08

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#10 2006-04-11 23:36:56

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#11 2006-04-12 00:31:59

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#12 2006-04-12 00:49:49

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#13 2006-04-12 00:54:16

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#14 2006-04-12 01:13:47

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#15 2006-04-12 01:26:07

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#16 2006-04-12 14:49:04

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#17 2006-04-12 16:48:22

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#18 2006-04-12 17:51:11

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#19 2006-04-12 18:24:49

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#20 2006-04-12 21:58:33

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#21 2006-04-12 22:34:04

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#22 2006-04-12 22:46:18

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#23 2006-04-13 17:28:56

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#24 2006-04-13 20:11:17

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

#25 2006-04-13 22:51:29

Re: Speed of Linux is Slow (Internet,VGA,Filesystem)

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